He did an effective job of describing his nuanced position on Iraq. The academics will think he won, but I don't think your average voter will get it.
I'm not quibbling with you, but I think there's a contradiction in what you say that needs to be explored.
Kerry did not do a good job, IMO, of describing a nuanced position on Iraq. It was "nuanced" only if you think that gobblygook is acceptable to J6PSSMs [Joe six-pack/security moms/soccer moms]--it is not. Kerry was often babbling, in my view, something I don't think J6PSSMs care for.
Kerry was quite inconsistent, and Bush did not hammer away at the inconsistencies like he should have, e.g., the Saddam had to go line versus "Saddam did not attack us" stuff gave the Prez a phenomenal opportunity to hammer him, gut him, really, but W for some reason either did not notice the opening or decided not to use it. I would have been merciless--"which one is it today, Mr. Kerry, was he or was he not a threat? How can we know you won't say something else tomorrow?"
The spinmeisters will give Kerry style points which J6PSSMs do not notice or care about.
Bush in my opinion dealt very well with what I knew was coming, i.e., the attempt by Kerry to somehow turn his inconsistency into an asset [which was done very poorly, in my view, when he said that he "was going in the right direction," a point I would have countered by saying "which direction are you talking about today, Mr. Kerry? Or tomorrow, for that matter"]. Bush dealt with this newest Kerry spin--inconsistency is OK if you are going in the right direction--by suggesting that Kerry's core values are too flexible and inconsistent, scoring a huge rhetorical point, in my view, which might be too subtle for falling-asleep J6PMMs to have captured. But it is a point that Bush can very effectively use in the next few weeks.
The effective attack on Kerry's core values in my view won the debate for Bush, you could feel Kerry wilt when Bush was on this point.
Which is not to say that Kerry did not do well--he had no major blunders, which I think was his advisors major goal.
All in all, a good debate, but one which in my view Bush won. |
